Kendall Jenner Flew to Philadelphia to Go on a Date With Ben Simmons

Despite recent appearances, it’s too soon to call the demise of Kendall Jenner’s relationship with basketball player Ben Simmons: On Thursday night, per TMZ, Jenner boarded a plane from Los Angeles to Philadelphia to watch Simmons’s team, the 76ers, play the Los Angeles Clippers from the vantage of a private suite at the Wells Fargo Center. (The 76ers won, for those keeping score, 122 to 113.) Afterward, an exit route was cleared for the Kardashian scion; as shown in a video taken by spying fans (who can’t resist shouting “Kendall!” as she comes into view) after the game, she met Simmons in the players’ parking lot, and the duo hopped into a black van and rode off into the sunset.

Simmons and Jenner were first reported to be dating back in May, several months after things had apparently “slowed down” between Jenner and another basketball player, former Clippers offensive player Blake Griffin, and after Simmons split from musician Tinashe. Jenner and Simmons hit all the relationship milestones: romantic beach vacation; a shared Los Angeles rental; a weirdly mundane date at the grocery store. They also weathered multiple sightings of Jenner getting intimate with Anwar Hadid, brother of models Gigi and Bella Hadid.

But in August, the sports press weirdly began to rejoice over rumors that things had begun to cool off between the pair—a time when she very busy with fashion month and he with the start of NBA season—because of the misogynist notion of the “Kardashian curse.” (I mean, even putting aside for a second the absurdity of blaming a man’s poor professional performance on the woman he’s dating, the 76ers won Thursday night’s game. They’re fine.) Jenner and Simmons have never been especially public about their relationship, though they did attend Kylie Jenner’s 21st birthday party together; they never officially broke up, either. (Of course, flying across the country is quite the display of commitment.) Honestly, the back-and-forth over their relationship status is probably due in part to the tabloid echo chamber. Their relationship status is still unclear, and that’s okay. It can stay that way.

Kendall sports slicked back hair and nude lip while attending the screening of 'Girls Of The Sun (Les Filles Du Soleil)' during the 71st annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 12, 2018 in Cannes, France. Photo courtesy of Getty Images.